Credit Card Extended Warranty Study: 2017’s Best Cards

Nov 14, 2017 | Alina Comoreanu, Senior Researcher

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Most major credit cards will extend the original manufacturer’s warranty on certain eligible purchases, free of charge. So if an item breaks or is stolen after its original warranty runs out, you may be eligible for a refund. But most people don’t know about this particular credit card perk, as is the case with other key secondary benefits, such as travel insurance and purchase protection. And simply knowing that credit card extended warranties exist is just the first step.

To actually benefit from a credit card’s extended warranty, you have to find a card with a good policy, use it to buy the item whose warranty you want extended, and file a claim. Buying and filing are easy. But finding the best extended warranty credit card can be difficult. Every credit card’s extended warranty policy has many coverage exclusions. And you have to read a lot of fine print to get the complete picture.

So to help consumers make the right decision, WalletHub compared the extended warranties offered by 60 of the most popular credit cards on the market and identified the best options. You can check out their selections and other key findings below.

Some of the cards listed on this page originate from our partners, but that did not impact our conclusions. Offers are accurate as of Nov 8, 2017, and many are likely to have changed since.

Methodology

We reviewed the extended warranty policies for all of the credit cards available via the websites of the 10 largest credit card issuers by purchase volume, excluding business, student and co-branded cards. Accuracy of our data was confirmed or corrected (which was then incorporated into the final version of this report). Information is accurate as of Nov 14, 2017.

We scored and ranked the cards based on five general criteria: 1) Sign-Up Requirements; 2) Purchases Covered; 3) Length of Warranty; 4) Coverage Limit’ 5) Claim Process’ and 6)Transparency.

If the original warranty can be extended for more than 1 year = Full points

If the original warranty can be extended for up to 1 year = 11% points

If the original warranty cannot be extended for at least 1 year = No points

Note: We accounted for the maximum warranty length allowed by the policy.

B. Purchased Extended Warranty – Worth 2% Total

If an extended warranty bought from a manufacturer or retailer is covered = 2% points

If an extended warranty bought from a manufacturer or retailer is not covered = No points

C. Type of Warranty Extension – Worth 3% Total

If the policy is not a function of the original warranty and the benefit adds a certain amount of time to the original (or purchased) warranty (e.g. a 1-year extension to a warranty of any length) = 3% points

If the policy is a function of the original warranty and does not cap the length of the extension (e.g. original warranty doubled) = 3%

If the policy is a function of the original warranty and limits coverage to a certain length of time (e.g. doubles the warranty, but for no more than 1 year) = No points

Information is not prominent on the issuer website; or it is prominent but users need to log in to see the full disclosure = 1.5%

Information cannot be easily found on the issuer website – No points

B. How easy it is to read the info? – Worth 1% Total

Information is presented in normal size font – 1%

Information is in small size font – No points

C. How complete are the policies provided? – Worth 4% Total

Full policy provided – Full points

A couple of key points missing from policy – 3%

Several key points missing from policy– 2%

Benefits briefly described – 0.5%

No key details provided – No points

D. How open and transparent is the card issuer about its policies? – Worth 2% Total

Transparent about policies – Full points

Not transparent about policies – No points

The card with the most accumulated points received the highest score. The maximum number of points is 100%.

Purchases Covered was weighted most heavily given that other factors are obviously inconsequential if an item is not covered in the first place. On the other end of the spectrum, the claims process was given relatively little weight due to the lack of differentiation between cards and the fact that it would take a lot to deter consumers from filing a claim and getting major items repaired or replaced for free.

The scores for each category are based on our opinion of how each card’s extended warranty program compares to an ideal extended warranty. An ideal extended warranty would be one based on common sense, where the average consumer would know what to expect without having to read the fine print. For example, an ideal policy would be free, would apply to all purchases, and would last for more than a year.

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